Sick and Twisted
by Hufflepuff Girl 8D
Summary: Clove and Cato always knew how their future was supposed to turn out. They knew every last detail and it was perfect. But now their perfect future has been threatened by ambition, pressure, danger, mystery, confusion and maybe even love. After all perfect isn't meant for the sick and twisted. But really how sick and twisted could they be? Rated T for violence and language.
1. Stick to the Plan

**Disclaimer: All canon characters, settings, concepts, etc. belong to Suzanne Collins. I own nothing.**

**A/N: Fist of all, thanks for clicking on my story and giving it a chance. This is my first full length story and is my imagination of a bit of what Clove's and Cato's lives were like before the games. It is in third person from Clove's POV. There is not much action in this chapter but I promise there it will come. I really appreciate reviews, they help me improve and keep me motivated. I hope you enjoy. :)**

Clove Sevina's sweaty ponytail slapped the back of her neck as she finished the end of her grueling ten mile run. She breathed hard as the treadmill slowed down and eventually stopped. She grabbed her water bottle and downed the remaining gulps. She pressed a button on her athletics watch and started checking her stats. As she was recording her work out details a hand clapped down on her shoulder.

"Hey Cato," Clove greeted without even turning around.

"I'm ready to go whenever you are," Cato Hadley said sitting down next to her on the wooden bench.

"Oh cool, just let me change quick," even though Clove and Cato had walked home together every day for years she still got butterflies.

After Clove had changed out of her sweaty clothes she met Cato in front of the looming stone building that was the Career Training Academy.

"Are you ready for testing tomorrow?" Cato asked as they stated down the cobblestone path that led out of the school building.

"Of course I'm ready," Clove answered excitedly.

Testing was a big tradition for potential career tributes. It was a four day process when everyone attending the Training Academy was tested on their health, physical fitness, knowledge and personality. After the results were gathered and compared they made a list of five girls and five boys in each age group 12-18. Then a boy and girl are selected from each grade. Those kids competed until there was one boy and one girl. The winners weren't automatically in the Hunger Games but the tributes who were selected by this process were always better off. They always got tons of sponsors and were told they had the best chances.

"I don't even care who gets chosen," Cato said, "I'm volunteering. This is my year I can feel it."

"I'm not even worried, I know I'm going to get chosen," Clove stated with an arrogant smirk on her face.

"Yeah well, I am too," Cato responded sounding suddenly defensive.

"Sheesh, you know we could both get chosen?"

"I don't want us both in the games," Cato stated firmly.

"I know, I know. You're going to win and I'm going to win the next year," Clove recited talking about the plan she and Cato had devised when they were kids.

"It's a great plan Clove. Please don't do anything to ruin it," Cato growled, losing control of his temper again.

"I won't Cato, calm down."

"Good," Cato elbowed Clove. "I wouldn't want to have to kill you."

"Kill me? Kill me? I don't want to have to kill YOU," Clove laughed.

"Cato! Clove! Wait up guys!" a squeaky voice called out behind them and footsteps pounded on the path.

"Uggggh, I swear that girl is like the plague," Clove whispered standing on her toes to reach Cato's ear. Cato chuckled as Ellary Taylor bounded up and pushed her way between her two fellow careers. Ellary had been Clove's "friend" since they were five. Clove had always hated her but no matter what she did Ellary still adored and clung to Clove. When they were six Clove was moved from the public elementary school to the career academy and she thought she had finally ditched her. One year later Ellary had somehow gotten into the career academy too. Clove assumed her parents had bribed her way in considering Ellary had no skill whatsoever. She was, in Clove's opinion, a tad overweight, sensitive, lazy, weak and whiny.

"So did you hear about Anjelica?" Ellary asked with a sense of concern in her voice.

"Of course we have, we go to the same school you do, idiot," Clove sneered. Anjelica was a girl Clove's age who was supposedly a shoo-in for one of the top five spots in the testing. Earlier that day she had taken a harsh fall down the stairs and was no longer able to compete. "Poor girl, it's a shame she won't get to participate in the tests," Clove said her voice was filled with fake empathy but a smug expression was plastered on her face.

"I know, poor Anjelica," Ellary pouted completely missing Clove's hint. Cato however was not so oblivious. He silently shrugged his backpack off and kicked it down the wooded hill lining the side of the road.

"Aww shit," Cato grumbled pretending like his backpack's little tumble had been an accident. "I should go get that. Wait right here Ellary, we'll be right back," Cato commanded.

"We?" Clove questioned. "What do you mean, we?" Cato didn't answer he just grabbed Clove's arm and dragged her down the wooded slope.

"What the hell?" Cato asked as soon as he was sure they were out of ear shot.

"I was about to ask the same thing, why exactly did you drag me down this hill?"

"I know you pushed Anjelica down the stairs!"

"Yeah, so what?" Clove wondered why this bothered Cato so much. He'd never been bothered by Clove's violence before, in fact he was often more violent than she was. Maybe he had a crush on her or something. At this thought rage flared up in Clove's heart. It wasn't like she and Cato were an official couple but she definitely didn't want him falling for any other girl.

"I just want to know why you wanted to sabotage someone when you don't even plan on being in the games this year," Cato muttered through his teeth. Clove let out a short breath of relief when she realized Cato had no feelings for Anjelica.

"I _don't _plan on being in the games this year," Clove reassured him, placing her hand on his forearm. "I just want to make sure I get a top five spot in my grade otherwise my dad will kill me, you know how he gets. I know this is your year to win. I'll go next year and then we can live in the victor's village together. Just like we planned."

"Good, I don't want anything jeopardizing our futures. Now come on, let's get my back pack and see if we can find a way home that doesn't involve Ellary."


	2. Unfamiliar Face

Cato and Clove parted ways at the end of Clove's perfectly paved brick drive. Clove's house was a large unwelcoming gray stone house with two stories and a balcony jutting out the side. She pushed open the gate on her tall rod iron fence walked and up the drive, every muscle in her body aching from her intense pre-testing workout. Clove smirked as she passed the lion statutes at the base of the steps leading up to her porch. The lions were the only decorations, aside from a few twisted thorn bushes, on the Sevinas' vast lawn. The lions were like the kind you would see outside a library or town hall except for their posture. While most were carved looking superior and serene the Sevinas' had one lion ripping another's throat open. Clove remembered picking them out with her father when she was five, one of the only happy memories she had with her father. Clove pushed open the heavy double doors to her home and was greeted with the smell of furniture polish and leather.

"Hello?" Clove called out. She was greeted by no response except her own echo ringing out through the marble foyer. She assumed both of her parents were still at work. Clove rubbed her biceps, regretting the intensity of her workout. She needed to be in good shape for the physical test the next day. She suddenly remembered her dad had a jar of muscle relief gel in his room. Clove wasn't technically allowed to use it since her parents wanted her to "power through the pain" but they didn't have to know. She climbed upstairs and into her parents' bedroom. She walked into the attached bathroom and tried to open the medicine cabinet but it was locked. She snatched a bobby pin off of the counter and jammed it in the lock. She wriggled it around for a minute until she heard the tumblers in the lock turn. She opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the blue canister she was looking for. She slathered the cool gel allover her body sighing with relief. As she was exiting the bedroom she tripped and hit the ground with a thud.

_Some career you are, klutzy girl. _She could practically hear her father's voice in her head. She sat up and turned around to see what had caused her fall.

_That's weird, _she thought. Sticking out from underneath her parents' bed was a dusty discolored shoebox. A tiny part of her head screamed not to open it, fearful of the repercussions if she was caught. However, a much larger part of her head told her to open the damn thing. She ripped the lid off and was hit by a wave of dust and a cloud of musty smelling air. The box contained yellowed report cards, tests and other papers related to Clove's history. Under the papers there were stacks of dusty faded photos held together by old rubber bands. Clove attempted to take the rubber band off of the first stack and it snapped. She looked at the photo on the top of the stack and saw her ten year old face staring back at her, there was nothing special about the phot or really any of the rest of the stack. I few caught her eye as she delved deeper into her past. She smiled at a picture of her laughing as Cato gave her a piggyback ride. She chuckled at a picture of herself beaming excitedly and standing in front of her first ever bull's-eye. Clove found it endearing but strange that her parents kept this box. They had never been the sentimental type and she wasn't surprised the box looked like it hadn't been touched in years. They must've stopped adding pictures after she reached puberty and stopped being cute. She looked at the other stacks of photos and they were more or less the same as the first. She was about to but the box away when a thick stack at the bottom caught her eye. As she pulled it out she noticed it looked even older than the rest. Looking at the first picture she noticed something even stranger, it didn't have her in it. Instead, the picture had a boy around Clove's current age with floppy brown hair and piercing gray eyes. He looked a lot like her father and she considered the possibility of it being a photo of him at a young age. This theory was dismissed when she saw the next photo of the strange boy standing next to Clove's mother. Her mother looked about 20 or 30 but the boy was five. She had never seen a cousin that looked like the boy and the photos had no captions. She was about to look for more photos of the boy when she was interrupted by her Rottweiler, Hatchet, barking in the yard and her garage door opening. Clove made a snap decision and stuffed the photos down her shirt. She closed the old box and shoved it back under the bed as she ran out of her parents' bedroom. She didn't know who the boy was but something in his icy cold stare made her want to find out.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed my second chapter, please review. **


	3. Rocks at the Window

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry this update took so long. I hope you enjoy and please review. If you liked it I'd LOVE to know and if you didn't I'd still love to know what I can do better. Thanks? :) **

Clove made it back into her bedroom just as her father and mother entered the house.

"Clove?" her mother called. "We're back, come say hi to your father." Clove's father had just gotten back from District Eleven where he had been doing some sort of secret peacekeeper business. Both of Clove's parents were peacekeepers but her mother did mainly paperwork and her father worked mainly in the field.

"Be down in a minute," Clove yelled back. She stuck the mysterious stack of photos under her mattress and bounded down the stairs.

"Hello Clove," her father greeted, hugging her tersely.

"Hi daddy," Clove's dad was a tall muscular man with a clean shaved face, well-oiled salt and pepper hair, and stern features. Both of her parents were older, in their fifties, but the physical similarities stopped there. Her mother was a short thin woman with black hair that was dyed perfectly so no grey was showing.

"What's that?" her dad asked pointing to a small glob of the muscle relief gel she had applied earlier that day.

"Umm, it's nothing," Clove lied, cursing herself for not noticing the gel sitting right on her collarbone.

"Don't lie to me Clove," her father demanded grabbing her arm with an iron grip.

"Let's go eat dinner," her mother suggested. Clove was glad for the distraction and she yanked her arm out from her father's grip. Once her whole family was seated around the dinner table her mother tried and failed at starting awkward a few conversations about the weather, Hatchet, and every other meaningless conversation topic under the sun. Finally she found a topic everyone could settle on, Clove's career training.

"So testing starts tomorrow, are you ready?" she asked.

"Duh," Clove snorted and instantly regretted it. She could feel her parents' eyes boring into her as she stared at her precisely portioned plate. "I just mean, of course I'm ready," she corrected. "Besides its just health I can't prepare or anything."

"True, you can't get taller overnight," her dad snarled. Clove let out a tiny sigh, she was used to her father being hard on her but this was intense even for him. Clove had always been one of the smallest careers but it's not like she could change that. Clove wolfed down the rest of her dinner, excused herself and went upstairs to her bedroom.

Clove's room has huge and smelled of her flowery but strangely spicy perfume. In the left corner rested a four poster bed with a black comforter, red sheets, and a huge pile of red and black pillows. Across from the bed was a dark wood bureau containing the clothes that didn't fit inside her closet. Catty-corner to the old bureau was a sleek black desk with a bulletin board filled with a calendar, notes about important things, test she did well of, and pictures of herself. She sat down at the purple desk chair and let out a huge sigh. The purple chair stuck out like a District Twelve kid in a pack of careers in her black and red room. It was left over from when she was younger and her room was all royal purple. It was old and faded but it was so comfortable she could never bring herself to throw it away.

Clove absentmindedly flipped through the pages of her study guide for the written portion of testing on the third day. Everyone knew the written tests designed to test your knowledge didn't matter very much in your overall score, everyone, that is, except for Clove's parents. Clove studied late into the night memorizing poisonous plants and different pressure points on the human body. It finally got to the point where she couldn't keep her head up or her eyelids open. She drowsily shrugged into some pajamas and flopped down in bed. She was pulled into a deep sleep even before her head hit the pillow.

When her eyelids fluttered open again she was no longer in her own bed. She was in a box of some sort built of heavy wood and padded with velvet on the interior. She suddenly realized it was a coffin and jolted upwards. Instead of hitting her head on the lid she went straight through it. She looked down and inspected her body which was now floating slightly towards the ceiling. Her skin was stark white and got more transparent the farther down her body she looked. Her hair was lose and she was wearing a plain gray frock. She looked around the plain room and saw her parents standing around the coffin she had just come out of. They weren't crying or mourning in any way, they were just standing there. They each shook their heads a few times and exited the room.

_THUMP! _A noise emitted from the coffin. It sounded a lot like a heartbeat. THUMP! It came again and again louder until Clove could no longer resist the urge to open the coffin. She already knew what she would find but still gasped when she saw it. There in the coffin rested her own body lying peacefully in the velvet dressed in the same gray frock. The thumping continued on and on until Clove jolted up drenched in sweat and in her own bed again.

THUMP! Clove yelped wondering why the thumping had followed her into the waking world. The next thump was accompanied by the shattering of glass as a rock flew straight through Clove's bedroom window.

**Hope you enjoyed. Any theories about the rock in the window OR the face in the photograph from the last chapter.**


	4. Late Night Planning

**A/N: First off, thank you all to those who have read my story and a special thanks to DegrassiLover67 and Royalty Over Reality for reviewing. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it is a bit shorter than the rest so far. Please review :)**

Clove held back a yelp as the rock landed about a foot away from her bed. The rock was heavy and rested in a pile of shattered glass. Clove gripped the rock and crept over to the window. She peered out the broken window, careful to not cut herself on the jutting shards of glass. Down on the lawn Clove saw a dark figure looming in the shadows. As the rock thrower's arm curled back to make another toss, Clove suddenly recognized a rope bracelet hanging from his wrist. She had an identical one wrapped around her own, smaller wrist. The bracelets signified a pact made a long time ago, a pact with...

"Cato?" she shouted as quietly as she could. Cato dropped the rock and tilted his head up to the window.

"Finally, come down here. Jump I'll catch you," Cato yelled back not trying to be at all quiet. Most sane people would never jump from a broken second floor window but Clove knew Cato well. If he walked all the way to her house he wasn't going to leave until she came down. Walking downstairs wasn't an option since her parents practically slept with one eye open. Instead Clove just pushed the window open, sat on the sill and then allowed herself to tumble backwards into the ebony sky. Cato caught her with muscular arms and dropped her straight onto the ground a split second later.

"Gee Cato, thanks for being gentle," she grumbled sarcastically, hopping off the ground and rubbing her sore tailbone. "If I'm messed up for testing tomorrow I swear to God Cato, I will kill you!" Clove yelled.

"Shut up, you don't want to make your parents pissed," Cato said clamping his hand over her mouth.

"Says the boy who just hurled a rock through my window," Clove replied jerking out of Cato's grasp.

Cato responded by simply tugging on the hem of his faded pajama shirt. Most of Cato's clothes were old, and Clove figured the shirt was probably handed down from his older brother. The Hadley family was as they liked to say "financially challenged". This was most likely the result of trying to support seven kids on the salary of two quarry workers. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley had as many kids as they could in hopes of one of them winning the games or even becoming a peacekeeper. Their main goal in life was to mooch off of their children's success. Many families Clove knew shared the same quarry worker lifestyle as the Hadley's and the only reason Clove's weren't among them was her father.

Mr. Sevina had grown up with a father who worked in the quarries and a mother who had died in them. His childhood had turned him into a driven young man who worked hard to become a peacekeeper and escape poverty. Once a peacekeeper he worked even harder to work his way up the ranks. When he was around twenty he met Clove's mother and his progression was halted. Peacekeepers were technically not allowed to get married or have children but for some reason Clove's father proposed a year later. Since Clove's mother was also a peacekeeper they should have both been fired or worse but for some reason they both managed to keep their jobs and had Clove in their mid-thirties.

"Nice pajamas," Cato taunted, jolting Clove back to the present. Glancing down, Clove remembered the skimpy tank-top and silky pajama shorts she was wearing. She blushed and playfully punched Cato's arm.

"You still haven't told me why you're here," Clove commented.

"I have a plan and I need your help."

"What kind of plan?"

"I'll tell you on the way," and just like that Cato ran towards Clove's front gate leaving her no choice but to follow.


End file.
